● The caution flag was displayed on lap 249 before Harvick had the opportunity to cycle through to the lead, but the Jimmy John’s team pitted from the fourth position and restarted fourth on the following restart.

● Ultimately, Harvick finished the Ford EcoBoost 400 race – and the 2018 season – in the third position.

You led a number of laps tonight. Just take us through your race, please.

“Yeah, we had a daytime racecar. As soon as it got dark we never could get our car tightened up there at the end. They made a great call to put us in position to win the race, and then the caution came out when the 2 car spun the 19 out. We came off pit road fourth, and just our strong point was not the restarts tonight, and we wound up on the wrong side of it.”

It seems like every year this race comes down to that late‑race caution. So as you’re leading what appears is going to be the championship battle there with about 25 to go and knowing that Kyle (Busch) has to pit again, in the back of your mind are you just thinking, “What’s going to happen, what’s going to change this?”

“You know, in the end, not really. I was just driving away and wound up with a restart there and didn’t wind up getting off, going at the beginning. I don’t really think about stuff like that. You just try to hit one lap at a time.”

Kevin, you guys didn’t seem to be that happy with what you had yesterday after practice. What all went into it? When you got in the car and started to race, did you feel there had been a lot of big changes made?

“We didn’t make a lot of big changes, we made a lot of small changes, and the car was definitely better. But like I say, when it got dark, we just lost the rear grip and couldn’t get off the corner and was having trouble turning in the corner. Just the balance was really good until it was dark outside, and we just never could get the rear grip back to where we needed to, and I couldn’t take off. But like I say, they put us in a position to win if the caution didn’t come out, and we had a shot there with, I don’t even know, 18 laps to go when the caution came out. It’s just the way it all shook out. The 22 (of winner Joey Logano) could take off really good.”

Notes:

● This was Harvick’s series-best 23rd top-five and 29th top-10 finish of 2018.

● Harvick earned his 10th top-five and 16th top-10 in 18 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Homestead.

● Harvick won Stage 1 and finished second in Stage 2. He ends 2018 with a series-best 19 stage wins.

● Harvick led five times for 58 laps to increase his laps-led total at Homestead to 373.

● Logano won the Ford EcoBoost 400 to score his 21st career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his first at Homestead. His margin of victory over second-place Martin Truex Jr. was 1.725 seconds.

● In winning the Ford EcoBoost 400, Logano won the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship for the first time in his career, outdueling fellow Championship 4 contenders Truex, Harvick and Kyle Busch.

● Only 18 of the 39 drivers in the Ford EcoBoost 400 finished on the lead lap.

Championship 4 Results:

1. Joey Logano (5,040 points)

2. Martin Truex Jr. (5,035 points)

3. Kevin Harvick (5,034 points)

4. Kyle Busch (5,033 points)

● Harvick competed in the Championship 4 for the fourth time in the last five years. He won the championship in 2014.

Next Up:

The 2019 season kicks off with the traditional Speedweeks at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.The 61st Daytona 500, the first points-paying race of the year, is Feb. 17 and will be broadcast live on FOX.